Beard and spects? Has to be Dad!

A constant doubt that exists in my mind is how babies recognise people?  I mean, I accept babies are clever and all...but how do they recognise people?  

Jennifer keeps meeting 'regulars' all the time.  I have very good friends who come by every weekend.  And there are other kind folks who invite us to their homes so they can see the kid.  Even if Jennifer gets to see them on a weekly basis, it would take her some time to get used to them.  She wouldn't like it if she gets picked up immediately when someone 'new' confronts her.  She would need to be in her parents' arms for some minutes, see the newcomer from a distance and then slowly she would warm up to them.  It's only to people she sees every day that immediate 'picking up privileges' are provided!

I keep worrying that if she were to go to Kerala for a couple of weeks without me, if she would remember me when she comes back.  Would I be a vivid memory or a newcomer who needs to be reacquainted?  Would I have to win her love and liberty towards me all over again?  It's thoughts like these that haunt me when I think of sending her and her mother off to Kerala on vacations without me.

But yesterday, something amusing happened.  A friend of mine dropped by to see Jenny.  He actually was a first-timer in our home.  Now regarding physical appearance, we share a lot of common attributes: both of us have french beards, both of us wear glasses, both of us have been blessed with an over-abundance of physical stature (means we are both fat!) and are almost same height.  So, when he came home and Jenny saw him, she immediately went to him and allowed him to pick her up!  We were amazed.  Which makes me wonder: did she think it was me?  Does she really not recognise me properly yet?  Is it still only externals she goes for first?

Anyways, I am still keeping her under observation.  Maybe someday, I shall understand how she distinguishes one human being from another.  Maybe then I can do something for her to remember me by and I can finally allow my wife to take a home-trip! ;)